It is not uncommon for a brassiere strap to slide down the shoulder and arm of a women wearing the same. Often this happens while the women is wearing a short sleeve blouse or upper garment and consequently the bra strap is left exposed dangling down around the upper arm area just above the elbow. This is indeed unsightly and even embarrassing.
It is known, however, to provide a structure about the shoulder area of an upper garment for retaining bra straps. For example, see the disclosures in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,953,233; 5,060,348; 2,719,303; 2,121,513; 1,632,424; 1,797,200; 1,942,734; 1,741,628; and 1,492,361.
Although there have been attempts to provide an efficient, practical and effective brassiere strap retainer, such as those disclosed in the above patents, to a great extent these past designs are not totally satisfactory and have many disadvantages and drawbacks. For example, the bra strap retainers of the prior art have little, if any, flexibility. Such bra straps are closely constructed to the upper garment and the bra strap is effectively fixed or closely confined to the upper garment and there is very little room for the bra strap to move back and forth on the shoulder. This can obviously lead to a very confining and uncomfortable situation.
Beyond that, many brassiere strap retainers of the prior art are hard to use and difficult to manipulate. In this regard, it is found that many such brassiere strap retainers are hard to open and close and it is difficult to effectively thread or confine the brassiere strap within the bra strap retainer.
In addition, the bra strap retainers known tend to have little or no versatility. As pointed out above they are generally fixed to an upper garment and consequently remain attached to that upper garment at all times and cannot be used unless the person is wearing that particular upper garment. Finally, bra strap retainers of the prior art are expensive and difficult to manufacture.
Therefore, there is a need for a new bra strap retainer design that overcomes the drawbacks and disadvantages referred to above that is found in bra strap retainers of the prior art.